In a Vase on Monday: Seashells by the seashore

It's the 10th anniversary of  In a Vase on Monday, the weekly meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden to feature floral/foliage arrangements featuring cuttings from contributors' gardens.  To recognize the occasion, Cathy challenged participants to use vases that aren't vases.  After considering alternatives I'd used before like mugs and teapots, I selected a seashell.  I didn't pick up the seashell from the seashore.  Although I can see the ocean from my back garden, the beach is a few miles away even as the crow flies.  However, I inherited several large seashells acquired by prior owners of our property.  I've previously used a large clamshell as a planter for succulents but I picked out a smaller one to use as a vase on this occasion.

Unfortunately, this shell was too round to sit well on a flat surface by itself so I used a piece of drift wood to support it.  It also leaked a little, which meant it ended up outside.  It's shown here on a low table that sits in front of the bench on our back patio.

I didn't use any actual flowers either.  Clockwise from the upper left, I used Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', A. arboreum 'Velour', Callisia fragrans (aka false bromeliad), and flower-like bracts of Leucadendron 'Summer Red'.

I ultimately decided I liked it better in my cutting garden, where it sits in the middle of my faux bird bath filled with marbles, propped up against a glass ball used to allow bees to safely drink water

I pulled together two conventional arrangements too.  The focus of the first one was one of my old standbys, Grevillea 'Superb'.

Like one of last week's arrangements, a flashy coleus stole attention from the flowers meant to serves as the arrangement's focal points

Back view, which sets off the Grevillea flowers to greater advantage

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Cuphea 'Honybells', C. 'Vermillionaire', Leucadendron laxum, Dipladenia 'Sundenia Coral', Grevillea 'Superb', noID Plectranthus scutellarioides (coleus), and P. s. 'Sallsa Verde'

The second small arrangement consists of bits and pieces of things.

The centerpiece was meant to be the gold-toned Rudbeckia (sold as part of the 'Cherokee Sunset' mix) but the white Dipladenia seems to have stolen the show

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Alstroemeria 'Claire', Antirrhinum majus, Dipladenia 'Sundenia White', Rudbeckia hirta 'Cherokee Sunset', and Tagetes lemonnii

Last week was far warmer - and drier - than I'd expected.   Late last week, the forecasts for rain this week were running as high as ninety percent starting Tuesday.  The chance of rain has now been pushed out to late Wednesday night and it's pegged at fifty percent in my location, trailing into the wee hours of Thursday.  There's another sixty percent chance of scattered thundershowers starting Friday morning, possibly extending into Saturday.  The cumulative estimate is currently under an inch in total, well below the original predictions, but I hope the forecasters are underestimating on that score.

For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  To Cathy, congratulations on keeping this meme going strong for ten years and thanks for always being a gracious and supportive host!